Mirror's Edge Catalyst gets closed beta, new story trailer

Mirror's Edge Catalyst, a new entry in the first-person action series that debuted the last generation of consoles, has been eagerly awaited since its 2014 announcement. While it was originally scheduled for release this month, publisher Electronic Arts now promises that it will debut in May, and has shared a new story trailer, along with details on a closed, multi-platform beta.

The trailer, shown below, sheds a little light on the backstory of Mirror's Edge heroine Faith, along with offering a peek at the environments the game takes place, known as the City of Glass. Rather than focusing on shooting and combat, "runners" like faith rely on fast parkour movement skills, quickly moving through obstacles and evading enemies.

Now, on to the good news about the beta: While it isn't a traditional "open" beta, there's no pre-order purchase requirement that has become the de-facto standard of today. The beta will be held on the same platforms the full game is releasing on — PS4, Xbox One, and PC — and players just need to sign up on the Mirror's Edge website.

Few details about what the beta will entail have been shared, as well as when it will take place and for how long, but it's likely to encompass some of the multiplayer elements.

Don't expect anything like competitive deathmatch, however, as developer DICE explained last year at E3 that Catalyst's asynchronous multiplayer gameplay will focus on players altering certain elements of the game-world for others. In other words, the actions players take, in their own game and on their own time, will have results in the game of others. Other features include Dash races, where players can compete against their friends' best times to reach checkpoints.

SOURCE PlayStation Blog, Mirror's Edge